illegal sandalwood transport

Innocent rural folk of Manvi taluk have used 'sandalwood' for building their huts, mistaking it for a variety of bamboo.

Bengaluru Urban forest officials seized 4 tonnes of sandalwood worth Rs 2 crore from ITI factory’s illegal godown in Dooravani Nagar, based on a tip-off from an interrogated thief. Deputy conservator N Ravindra Kumar filed a case. KR Puram range audit found 18 stumps for 297 logs. ITI’s 2022 audit recorded 3,800 kg sandalwood, questioning onsite growth claims.

Agumbe police assisted by forest watch squad on Monday night arrested three persons from Theerthahalli taluk who were illegally transporting sandalwood billets weighing 15-kg worth Rs 25,000.

Police on Sunday seized 100 kg of sandalwood being allegedly smuggled in a car at Kamalapur under Mohana police station limits in Gajapati district. The sandalwood is valued at around Rs 1.5 lakh, the police said.

Gullible tribals are exploited by sandalwood smugglers to chop trees and transport them across the interstate border in buses.

The forest department officials on Saturday held a man who involved in illegal trade of sandalwood and crafted products from Chackai.

A day after an international gang involved in smuggling of red sandalwood was busted, police said that the two Nepalese nationals were kingpins of the racket who had brought the Chinese national to the city and were planning to get more customers to Jaipur.

Mandsaur police busted an interstate red sandalwood smuggling operation, arresting two individuals and seizing 2,260 kg of the valuable wood, worth approximately Rs 4.5 crore. The accused, inspired by cinematic depictions of smuggling, were transporting the illegally obtained red sandalwood when intercepted. Authorities are currently searching for a third suspect involved in the racket.

In a one of the biggest actions against sandalwood smuggling, forest department and police seized around 1000 kg of sandalwood worth of Rs 10 lakh from smugglers in Shivnagar area on Monday and arrested one accused.